Thousands of years ago, masons and blacksmiths have devised a way to attach two or more beams of wood without the use of nails and other modern ways of architecture. How did they do it? When you look at the oldest wooden architecture made by man, you’ll see that they were able to accomplish a strong joined pieces of wooden structures with the use of a mortise and a tenon. The use of mortise and tenon can only be used when the two pieces of wood are in a 90 degrees position. The mortise is the holed part and is called a mortise hole while the tenon tongue serves as the adjacent woodwork that you attach to the mortise hole.

In the years pass, making a mortise entails professional work by an expertise woodworker. With the advancement of technology, they’ve devised a way to make the process easier and quicker. They utilize the use of a mortiser which is actually a tool that can efficiently make a mortise hole to a block of wood that you intend to use for wooden architecture. In the year’s past, they manually make a mortise hole. But this ingenious device lets you make a mortise hole that’s evenly lined and perfectly done in just minutes. You can save a lot of energy and time when you use a mortise. This device might be pricey but for professional woodworkers and carpenters, it’s a great investment. There are different types of mortiser that you can check out. There’s a square chisel mortiser, a horizontal mortiser, also known as a slot mortiser, and a chain mortiser. Here’s a list of the best ones in the market for you to check out.

DELTA 14-651 Professional 1/2HP Bench Mortising Machine

So far, this is the most talk-about mortiser that we found in the market. That might be a good thing or a bad thing, it’s for you to find out. Although there are some mixed reviews about this product, there are also people who find that the performance of this mortiser is passable especially with the price and quality of the product. One good thing about the product is it’s easy to use and open. When you need to have access to the drill chuck you can easily do that when it needs changing. The base of the mortiser is large and the material is cast-iron so you can be sure that it’s stronger than it looks. It has a center hole for your mortise hole to go through.

The rack of this mortiser can be adjusted without any hassles when you use this product. The same goes with the pinion fence as well as the pinion head of this mortiser. You can raise and lower the pinion head with ease when you place your wood here. With this product, you can actually turn the head column of the mortise wood to 180 degrees. You can even remount this for an off-table mortising action. With the adjustable fence, you can successfully make a mortise hole easily and quickly. With a little bit of study on how to use this following the manual, if you’re not familiar with a mortiser, you can then achieve a successful mortise hole with this product.

Jet 708580 JBM-5 1/2 Horsepower Bench Mortiser

This is another mortiser that we found in the market. It’s a pretty decent one that has a price you can expect from a mortiser. Just like the first product on our list, this is also a bench mortiser that’s a lot more compact compared to the heavy-duty and industrial ones used by professional woodworkers and carpenters. This one is powered by a 1,752-rpm motor which is a decent amount of power to give you a successful mortise hole. Its chisel capacity is quite good too for its size, quality, and price. This is also made from rugged cast-iron as well as steel. You can expect the overall construction of this mortiser to be quite good.

This mortiser is ideal to use in making wooden chairs. Even though the table of this mortiser is smaller compared to the pricier ones, it’s actually durable. The base is actually made of cast iron. It even has a piece of MDF that’s bolted down to the base in order to protect your chisels when you use this to make your mortise holes. Even if you drill through your wood, your chisels won’t get worn down which is great. If you wanted a bigger mortiser then you might not like this. But for small projects, you don’t really have to use a big mortiser. This would be a perfect mortiser with the right size for small projects.

Powermatic 1791310 PM701 3/4 Horsepower Bench Mortiser

Now, this is a highly rated mortiser that’s also critically acclaimed. A lot of people actually recommend this product and for a good reason. This is an amazing product that can give you amazing performance when you make mortise holes through your woodwork. Unlike other smaller products, this one has ¾ horsepower so you can be sure that it can drill holes and chisel shapes that are perfect as a mortise hole and tenon tongue. This machine can operate until it reaches 1,725 rpm which is strong enough. It even has a head stroke capacity of 5 ½ inches that’s great in mortise making. You can reverse the head from left to right if you need to.

This mortiser might need some assemblage when you first use it but don’t worry. It’s not that complicated. All you have to do is follow the manual and instructions upon purchase. With this price, you can get the mortiser and with the addition of important tools for mortising which are a chisel bushing, chuck key as well as chuck extension adaptor. So even though the price of this product might be expensive, you can get the full, functional package. With the high-quality construction, amazing performance and reasonable price of this product, you can achieve an amazing mortise hole with this.

Shop Fox W1671 3/4 HP Heavy-duty Mortising Machine

The next product on our list is a newly released one that has yet to capture the hearts and attention of people. So far, it has garnered mixed reviews from people who were able to use this. This is a heavy duty mortiser that has a ¾ HP power. What’s unique about this product is it has a swiveling base so you can move it the way you needed to. This one has a special gas spring return and also a double support set of columns. You can actually adjust the depth of the stop rod when you use this mortiser. The fence of this product is also adjustable in order to accommodate your woodwork perfectly. You can expect to do great things with this product.

Assembling this product is easy. You just have to read the manual and follow the instructions provided. In less than an hour, you can assemble this mortiser without any worries. The quality of the parts is quite decent. When everything is assembled well, you can accurately cut through your woodwork effortlessly. The manual is very informative when it comes to assembling this product, but when it comes to using this you might need to learn from a professional or you can check out videos on the internet if you’re a novice when it comes to mortising. The price is quite reasonable and the overall performance is quite decent. You can check this out if you’re interested.

The last product on our list is the most expensive of the bunch but this is a highly rated one that a lot of people recommend. A lot of professionals actually use this for their work. It makes their job a whole lot easier. With this, you can achieve accurate and well-made mortise holes each time. The overall construction is quite sturdy since this is made of cast iron. You can be sure that you’ll have optimum durability as well as stability with this product. This one even has a position table mount that you can quickly position the way you need to. The vise clamp can swivel when you need to for some angled woodwork pieces.

Another great thing about this product is it has a special feed lever that can actually do six positions which is convenient to use when you need to do some quick adjustments while creating mortise holes. The table of this mortiser, as well as the fence, can actually tilt. You can tilt this from 0 degrees to 35 degrees depending on your preference or needs. You can have smooth operation each time you use this thanks to its special design and amazing functions. Everything here is well-thought of in order to provide you with the most convenient and easiest way to make mortise holes. Even though the table might be heavy, but when it comes to performance you’ll love the accuracy of this product.

Conclusion

In order to achieve the perfect and effortless mortise hole, you’ll need to use the best mortiser. It’s better to invest on a good product than to suffer the stress of making a mortise hole manually.